IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 1 - 7 DECEMBER 1925
This week's many stories include the hooligans causing trouble on Eccleston Mere, the barrel organ racket in Sutton, the miner who went berserk on Liverpool Road, the complaints over the open top trams in Parr, the furniture fight in Crook Street and why the MP for St Helens upon arriving at an event needed to be put to bed.
Escorting drunken prisoners to St Helens police station in the days before the service was equipped with motor transport could be quite a challenge for the bobbies. Sometimes the arrested individual would initially go quietly but then mid-way to the Town Hall would go berserk. That was the case with Myles McHale, who appeared before St Helens Police Court on December 1st.
On the previous evening just after 10pm, PCs Garlick and Kitchen had seen the miner drunk and acting in a disorderly manner on Liverpool Road, striking out at anyone he came into contact with. McHale was arrested and caused no problems until they got to the corner of Water Street and Bridge Street, when the man suddenly shouted "Up with the Irish, down with the __________ police."
The expletive was censored by the Reporter in their article, which then quoted PC Garlick as telling the magistrates, "He seemed to get quite mad", as McHale proceeded to strike PC Kitchen on his face and about his legs. Several civilians came to their assistance but McHale was so violent that they had to stand off, leaving the two officers fighting with the man on the ground. Eventually, with the help of Sergeant Harvey, they managed to get their prisoner to the station.
PC Kitchen's helmet was so badly damaged by McHale that it was unfit for use and his whistle chain was broken in two. Myles McHale had only been living in St Helens for the last two years but he had been before the court on two occasions, most recently for assaulting the police. Inspector Roe said McHale had told him that he had taken a day off coalmining and instead been "on the beer." He was fined a total of £3, including damages for the damaged police helmet.
At the monthly St Helens Town Council meeting on the 2nd, the question of covered trams arose. Although sitting on top of an open-top double-decker tram was very pleasant in summer, it was not nice in winter leading to complaints. Parr was said to have more open-top trams than any other place in St Helens but it was explained that the tramlines in the district needed replacing first before the trams could be covered. The St Helens Reporter headlined their brief piece "How Parr Gets Wet"!
In Sutton there was a rectangular piece of wasteland, 100 yards long by 50 yards wide, that Suttoners knew as the "Show Field". It was sandwiched between the rears of Edgeworth Street, Peckers Hill Road and Robins Lane and, at its opposite end, by Fisher Street and Taylor Street. The Show Field was a popular place for fairs, barrel organs and their like – but the racket they made did not make them popular with the residents of the above streets!
As it was public land it seems that the operators of the fairs did not need any permission to run their amusements on the site. But they did need a music licence if they wanted organs and such to play – often as a means of attracting people to the fair. In 1919 when Silcocks applied for a music licence for a fair on the Show Field, a number of residents from Robins Lane appeared in court to strongly object. Railway signalman John Gibbons said he did shift work and the noise during the day prevented him from sleeping.
He also complained of an "abominable nuisance" that was created as the result of large numbers of people flocking to the place with the nearest public toilets half-a-mile away. A resident called Mrs Turner said she objected to the "noise of the rabble and the so-called music grinding for hours together…The last time we were nearly driven to distraction".
This week a man called Jepson from Blackburn applied in St Helens Police Court for a music licence for use on the Show Ground. It was a last-minute application, with the hearing held on the 3rd and his fair set to open two days later. As a result few residents were in court to complain – which might have been why the application was made so late.
But J. Foulkes of Robins Lane did attend the court and said what was played on the barrel organs could not be described as music. He said he did not object so much to the shrieks and screams of persons going up in the swing boats. But he did object to the organ that always played "the same old tune". Chief Constable Ellerington told the magistrates that the locals were strongly against a licence being granted and as a result the application was denied.
The Reporter on the 4th gave great prominence to a letter complaining about "hooligans" on Eccleston Mere. Pilkington's were the owners of the nature reserve and during the winter when the water froze, it was a tradition for them to open their gates and permit the general public to ice skate. Hundreds would take the opportunity but, according to the letter writer, this year a small group had been visiting Eccleston Mere to "play the fool" and cause damage to trees and shrubs. As a result Pilkingtons had put up a notice warning people that unless the vandalism ceased, access would no longer be allowed.
"The hooligans are going to stop other people's pleasure by their disgraceful conduct", warned the correspondent. "Have they no decent, sporting instincts, no sense of how to justify the privileges which are given them? …But nothing seems to perturb these destructive people in the least, and when one nice looking park has been wrecked and closed by them, they just go a little further afield and continue their pranks."
James Sexton, the St Helens MP (pictured above), was due to open the annual sale of work at Sacred Heart School on the 5th. But upon his arrival he became very feverish and had to be taken to the church presbytery and a doctor called. Sexton was deemed unfit to open the bazaar and put straight to bed where he remained until the following day. However, the bazaar went ahead and £650 was raised.
People were starting to acquire more personal possessions than in previous years – but still furniture was considered the most valuable and its ownership, particularly after death, led to many family disputes. Exactly what had led to Patrick Brady from Crook Street in St Helens having a violent row over some furniture was not revealed in the newspaper accounts of his court case on the 7th.
A police constable gave evidence of hearing shouting and bad language coming from the direction of Crook Street and then he heard the smashing of glass and crockery. Upon the officer speaking to Brady, he replied: "Some of my furniture is in that house, and they _________ will not let me have it."
Unusually, the man was sober but one of his knuckles was described as cut to the bone and he was bleeding badly. Patrick Brady had been charged with committing a breach of the peace and he was bound over for six months.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the plans to evict tenants from a poison gas works, the ice skating on Eccleston Mere, the coal stealing from Southport Colliery, the epidemic of water pipe bursts and the Pilks' apprentices prosecuted for going on strike.
Escorting drunken prisoners to St Helens police station in the days before the service was equipped with motor transport could be quite a challenge for the bobbies. Sometimes the arrested individual would initially go quietly but then mid-way to the Town Hall would go berserk. That was the case with Myles McHale, who appeared before St Helens Police Court on December 1st.
On the previous evening just after 10pm, PCs Garlick and Kitchen had seen the miner drunk and acting in a disorderly manner on Liverpool Road, striking out at anyone he came into contact with. McHale was arrested and caused no problems until they got to the corner of Water Street and Bridge Street, when the man suddenly shouted "Up with the Irish, down with the __________ police."
The expletive was censored by the Reporter in their article, which then quoted PC Garlick as telling the magistrates, "He seemed to get quite mad", as McHale proceeded to strike PC Kitchen on his face and about his legs. Several civilians came to their assistance but McHale was so violent that they had to stand off, leaving the two officers fighting with the man on the ground. Eventually, with the help of Sergeant Harvey, they managed to get their prisoner to the station.
PC Kitchen's helmet was so badly damaged by McHale that it was unfit for use and his whistle chain was broken in two. Myles McHale had only been living in St Helens for the last two years but he had been before the court on two occasions, most recently for assaulting the police. Inspector Roe said McHale had told him that he had taken a day off coalmining and instead been "on the beer." He was fined a total of £3, including damages for the damaged police helmet.
At the monthly St Helens Town Council meeting on the 2nd, the question of covered trams arose. Although sitting on top of an open-top double-decker tram was very pleasant in summer, it was not nice in winter leading to complaints. Parr was said to have more open-top trams than any other place in St Helens but it was explained that the tramlines in the district needed replacing first before the trams could be covered. The St Helens Reporter headlined their brief piece "How Parr Gets Wet"!
In Sutton there was a rectangular piece of wasteland, 100 yards long by 50 yards wide, that Suttoners knew as the "Show Field". It was sandwiched between the rears of Edgeworth Street, Peckers Hill Road and Robins Lane and, at its opposite end, by Fisher Street and Taylor Street. The Show Field was a popular place for fairs, barrel organs and their like – but the racket they made did not make them popular with the residents of the above streets!
As it was public land it seems that the operators of the fairs did not need any permission to run their amusements on the site. But they did need a music licence if they wanted organs and such to play – often as a means of attracting people to the fair. In 1919 when Silcocks applied for a music licence for a fair on the Show Field, a number of residents from Robins Lane appeared in court to strongly object. Railway signalman John Gibbons said he did shift work and the noise during the day prevented him from sleeping.
He also complained of an "abominable nuisance" that was created as the result of large numbers of people flocking to the place with the nearest public toilets half-a-mile away. A resident called Mrs Turner said she objected to the "noise of the rabble and the so-called music grinding for hours together…The last time we were nearly driven to distraction".
This week a man called Jepson from Blackburn applied in St Helens Police Court for a music licence for use on the Show Ground. It was a last-minute application, with the hearing held on the 3rd and his fair set to open two days later. As a result few residents were in court to complain – which might have been why the application was made so late.
But J. Foulkes of Robins Lane did attend the court and said what was played on the barrel organs could not be described as music. He said he did not object so much to the shrieks and screams of persons going up in the swing boats. But he did object to the organ that always played "the same old tune". Chief Constable Ellerington told the magistrates that the locals were strongly against a licence being granted and as a result the application was denied.
The Reporter on the 4th gave great prominence to a letter complaining about "hooligans" on Eccleston Mere. Pilkington's were the owners of the nature reserve and during the winter when the water froze, it was a tradition for them to open their gates and permit the general public to ice skate. Hundreds would take the opportunity but, according to the letter writer, this year a small group had been visiting Eccleston Mere to "play the fool" and cause damage to trees and shrubs. As a result Pilkingtons had put up a notice warning people that unless the vandalism ceased, access would no longer be allowed.
"The hooligans are going to stop other people's pleasure by their disgraceful conduct", warned the correspondent. "Have they no decent, sporting instincts, no sense of how to justify the privileges which are given them? …But nothing seems to perturb these destructive people in the least, and when one nice looking park has been wrecked and closed by them, they just go a little further afield and continue their pranks."
People were starting to acquire more personal possessions than in previous years – but still furniture was considered the most valuable and its ownership, particularly after death, led to many family disputes. Exactly what had led to Patrick Brady from Crook Street in St Helens having a violent row over some furniture was not revealed in the newspaper accounts of his court case on the 7th.
A police constable gave evidence of hearing shouting and bad language coming from the direction of Crook Street and then he heard the smashing of glass and crockery. Upon the officer speaking to Brady, he replied: "Some of my furniture is in that house, and they _________ will not let me have it."
Unusually, the man was sober but one of his knuckles was described as cut to the bone and he was bleeding badly. Patrick Brady had been charged with committing a breach of the peace and he was bound over for six months.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the plans to evict tenants from a poison gas works, the ice skating on Eccleston Mere, the coal stealing from Southport Colliery, the epidemic of water pipe bursts and the Pilks' apprentices prosecuted for going on strike.
This week's many stories include the hooligans causing trouble on Eccleston Mere, the barrel organ racket in Sutton, the miner who went berserk on Liverpool Road, the complaints over the open top trams in Parr, the furniture fight in Crook Street and why the MP for St Helens upon arriving at an event needed to be put to bed.
Escorting drunken prisoners to St Helens police station in the days before the service was equipped with motor transport could be quite a challenge for the bobbies.
Sometimes the arrested individual would initially go quietly but then mid-way to the Town Hall would go berserk.
That was the case with Myles McHale, who appeared before St Helens Police Court on December 1st.
On the previous evening just after 10pm, PCs Garlick and Kitchen had seen the miner drunk and acting in a disorderly manner on Liverpool Road, striking out at anyone he came into contact with.
McHale was arrested and caused no problems until they got to the corner of Water Street and Bridge Street, when the man suddenly shouted "Up with the Irish, down with the _________ police."
The expletive was censored by the Reporter in their article, which then quoted PC Garlick as telling the magistrates, "He seemed to get quite mad", as McHale proceeded to strike PC Kitchen on his face and about his legs.
Several civilians came to their assistance but McHale was so violent that they had to stand off, leaving the two officers fighting with the man on the ground.
Eventually, with the help of Sergeant Harvey, they managed to get their prisoner to the station.
PC Kitchen's helmet was so badly damaged by McHale that it was unfit for use and his whistle chain was broken in two.
Myles McHale had only been living in St Helens for the last two years but he had been before the court on two occasions, most recently for assaulting the police.
Inspector Roe said McHale had told him that he had taken a day off coalmining and instead been "on the beer." He was fined a total of £3, including damages for the damaged police helmet.
At the monthly St Helens Town Council meeting on the 2nd, the question of covered trams arose.
Although sitting on top of an open-top double-decker tram was very pleasant in summer, it was not nice in winter leading to complaints.
Parr was said to have more open-top trams than any other place in St Helens but it was explained that the tramlines in the district needed replacing first before the trams could be covered.
The St Helens Reporter headlined their brief piece "How Parr Gets Wet"!
In Sutton there was a rectangular piece of wasteland, 100 yards long by 50 yards wide, that Suttoners knew as the "Show Field".
It was sandwiched between the rears of Edgeworth Street, Peckers Hill Road and Robins Lane and, at its opposite end, by Fisher Street and Taylor Street.
The Show Field was a popular place for fairs, barrel organs and their like – but the racket they made did not make them popular with the residents of the above streets!
As it was public land it seems that the operators of the fairs did not need any permission to run their amusements on the site.
But they did need a music licence if they wanted organs and such to play – often as a means of attracting people to the fair.
In 1919 when Silcocks applied for a music licence for a fair on the Show Field, a number of residents from Robins Lane appeared in court to strongly object.
Railway signalman John Gibbons said he did shift work and the noise during the day prevented him from sleeping.
He also complained of an "abominable nuisance" that was created as the result of large numbers of people flocking to the place with the nearest public toilets half-a-mile away.
A resident called Mrs Turner said she objected to the "noise of the rabble and the so-called music grinding for hours together…The last time we were nearly driven to distraction".
This week a man called Jepson from Blackburn applied in St Helens Police Court for a music licence for use on the Show Ground.
It was a last-minute application, with the hearing held on the 3rd and his fair set to open two days later.
As a result few residents were in court to complain – which might have been why the application was made so late.
But J. Foulkes of Robins Lane did attend the court and said what was played on the barrel organs could not be described as music.
He said he did not object so much to the shrieks and screams of persons going up in the swing boats. But he did object to the organ that always played "the same old tune".
Chief Constable Ellerington told the magistrates that the locals were strongly against a licence being granted and as a result the application was denied.
The Reporter on the 4th gave great prominence to a letter complaining about "hooligans" on Eccleston Mere.
Pilkington's were the owners of the nature reserve and during the winter when the water froze, it was a tradition for them to open their gates and permit the general public to ice skate.
Hundreds would take the opportunity but, according to the letter writer, this year a small group had been visiting Eccleston Mere to "play the fool" and cause damage to trees and shrubs.
As a result Pilkingtons had put up a notice warning people that unless the vandalism ceased, access would no longer be allowed.
"The hooligans are going to stop other people's pleasure by their disgraceful conduct", warned the correspondent. "Have they no decent, sporting instincts, no sense of how to justify the privileges which are given them?
"…But nothing seems to perturb these destructive people in the least, and when one nice looking park has been wrecked and closed by them, they just go a little further afield and continue their pranks."
James Sexton, the St Helens MP (pictured above), was due to open the annual sale of work at Sacred Heart School on the 5th.
But upon his arrival he became very feverish and had to be taken to the church presbytery and a doctor called.
Sexton was deemed unfit to open the bazaar and put straight to bed where he remained until the following day. However, the bazaar went ahead and £650 was raised.
People were starting to acquire more personal possessions than in previous years – but still furniture was considered the most valuable and its ownership, particularly after death, led to many family disputes.
Exactly what had led to Patrick Brady from Crook Street in St Helens having a violent row over some furniture was not revealed in the newspaper accounts of his court case on the 7th.
A police constable gave evidence of hearing shouting and bad language coming from the direction of Crook Street and then he heard the smashing of glass and crockery.
Upon the officer speaking to Brady, he replied: "Some of my furniture is in that house, and they ______ will not let me have it."
Unusually, the man was sober but one of his knuckles was described as cut to the bone and he was bleeding badly.
Patrick Brady had been charged with committing a breach of the peace and he was bound over for six months.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the plans to evict tenants from a poison gas works, the ice skating on Eccleston Mere, the coal stealing from Southport Colliery, the epidemic of water pipe bursts and the Pilks' apprentices prosecuted for going on strike.
Escorting drunken prisoners to St Helens police station in the days before the service was equipped with motor transport could be quite a challenge for the bobbies.
Sometimes the arrested individual would initially go quietly but then mid-way to the Town Hall would go berserk.
That was the case with Myles McHale, who appeared before St Helens Police Court on December 1st.
On the previous evening just after 10pm, PCs Garlick and Kitchen had seen the miner drunk and acting in a disorderly manner on Liverpool Road, striking out at anyone he came into contact with.
McHale was arrested and caused no problems until they got to the corner of Water Street and Bridge Street, when the man suddenly shouted "Up with the Irish, down with the _________ police."
The expletive was censored by the Reporter in their article, which then quoted PC Garlick as telling the magistrates, "He seemed to get quite mad", as McHale proceeded to strike PC Kitchen on his face and about his legs.
Several civilians came to their assistance but McHale was so violent that they had to stand off, leaving the two officers fighting with the man on the ground.
Eventually, with the help of Sergeant Harvey, they managed to get their prisoner to the station.
PC Kitchen's helmet was so badly damaged by McHale that it was unfit for use and his whistle chain was broken in two.
Myles McHale had only been living in St Helens for the last two years but he had been before the court on two occasions, most recently for assaulting the police.
Inspector Roe said McHale had told him that he had taken a day off coalmining and instead been "on the beer." He was fined a total of £3, including damages for the damaged police helmet.
At the monthly St Helens Town Council meeting on the 2nd, the question of covered trams arose.
Although sitting on top of an open-top double-decker tram was very pleasant in summer, it was not nice in winter leading to complaints.
Parr was said to have more open-top trams than any other place in St Helens but it was explained that the tramlines in the district needed replacing first before the trams could be covered.
The St Helens Reporter headlined their brief piece "How Parr Gets Wet"!
In Sutton there was a rectangular piece of wasteland, 100 yards long by 50 yards wide, that Suttoners knew as the "Show Field".
It was sandwiched between the rears of Edgeworth Street, Peckers Hill Road and Robins Lane and, at its opposite end, by Fisher Street and Taylor Street.
The Show Field was a popular place for fairs, barrel organs and their like – but the racket they made did not make them popular with the residents of the above streets!
As it was public land it seems that the operators of the fairs did not need any permission to run their amusements on the site.
But they did need a music licence if they wanted organs and such to play – often as a means of attracting people to the fair.
In 1919 when Silcocks applied for a music licence for a fair on the Show Field, a number of residents from Robins Lane appeared in court to strongly object.
Railway signalman John Gibbons said he did shift work and the noise during the day prevented him from sleeping.
He also complained of an "abominable nuisance" that was created as the result of large numbers of people flocking to the place with the nearest public toilets half-a-mile away.
A resident called Mrs Turner said she objected to the "noise of the rabble and the so-called music grinding for hours together…The last time we were nearly driven to distraction".
This week a man called Jepson from Blackburn applied in St Helens Police Court for a music licence for use on the Show Ground.
It was a last-minute application, with the hearing held on the 3rd and his fair set to open two days later.
As a result few residents were in court to complain – which might have been why the application was made so late.
But J. Foulkes of Robins Lane did attend the court and said what was played on the barrel organs could not be described as music.
He said he did not object so much to the shrieks and screams of persons going up in the swing boats. But he did object to the organ that always played "the same old tune".
Chief Constable Ellerington told the magistrates that the locals were strongly against a licence being granted and as a result the application was denied.
The Reporter on the 4th gave great prominence to a letter complaining about "hooligans" on Eccleston Mere.
Pilkington's were the owners of the nature reserve and during the winter when the water froze, it was a tradition for them to open their gates and permit the general public to ice skate.
Hundreds would take the opportunity but, according to the letter writer, this year a small group had been visiting Eccleston Mere to "play the fool" and cause damage to trees and shrubs.
As a result Pilkingtons had put up a notice warning people that unless the vandalism ceased, access would no longer be allowed.
"The hooligans are going to stop other people's pleasure by their disgraceful conduct", warned the correspondent. "Have they no decent, sporting instincts, no sense of how to justify the privileges which are given them?
"…But nothing seems to perturb these destructive people in the least, and when one nice looking park has been wrecked and closed by them, they just go a little further afield and continue their pranks."
But upon his arrival he became very feverish and had to be taken to the church presbytery and a doctor called.
Sexton was deemed unfit to open the bazaar and put straight to bed where he remained until the following day. However, the bazaar went ahead and £650 was raised.
People were starting to acquire more personal possessions than in previous years – but still furniture was considered the most valuable and its ownership, particularly after death, led to many family disputes.
Exactly what had led to Patrick Brady from Crook Street in St Helens having a violent row over some furniture was not revealed in the newspaper accounts of his court case on the 7th.
A police constable gave evidence of hearing shouting and bad language coming from the direction of Crook Street and then he heard the smashing of glass and crockery.
Upon the officer speaking to Brady, he replied: "Some of my furniture is in that house, and they ______ will not let me have it."
Unusually, the man was sober but one of his knuckles was described as cut to the bone and he was bleeding badly.
Patrick Brady had been charged with committing a breach of the peace and he was bound over for six months.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the plans to evict tenants from a poison gas works, the ice skating on Eccleston Mere, the coal stealing from Southport Colliery, the epidemic of water pipe bursts and the Pilks' apprentices prosecuted for going on strike.